Microsoft to Downsize Training Division

(Seattle) Microsoft Corp. is eliminating 14 jobs in its Microsoft Learning division,
and will instead have an outside vendor perform that work. The jobs are being cut because the company decided to consolidate the work
under the outside vendor, which had previously shared those duties with the
in-house workers, Microsoft spokesman Lou Gellos said Thursday.

Microsoft Learning, which employs more than 300 people, is the division of
Microsoft that provides training on how to use and implement its products, including
offering classes, books and certification resources.

The eliminated jobs were in the production part of the unit, which produces
manuals and other technical books about Microsoft products.

Gellos said the jobs were eliminated amid a broader restructuring of Microsoft
Learning, which also saw some jobs shifted elsewhere in the company.

In May, Microsoft told about 1,000 technology contract workers to take seven
days off, without Microsoft pay, because the company wanted to save money.

In February, the company said it planned to spend about $1 billion over the
next three years to expand its sprawling Redmond corporate campus by about one-third,
to accommodate new and existing workers.

Last year, it also said it planned to nearly double its work force in India
over the next four years.